A cultural group performs a play to spread awareness about AIDS in Patna. Telegraph picture

Several cultural groups would perform street plays to spread awareness about AIDS in the districts.

Bihar State AIDS Control Society is planning to hire the services of 47 cultural groups to perform the street plays to spread awareness about AIDS and also to dispel myths associated with the disease.

Information, communications and education officer of the society, Manoj Kumar Sinha, said the groups would be selected by July and they are expected to perform from September. “The cultural groups empanelled with the information and public relations department would be taken into consideration during the selection. At present, there are 95 such groups empanelled with the department,” Sinha said.

The cultural groups that are expressive would be selected, Singh stressed. “We are looking for groups that excel in acting, dancing or singing so that they can deliver the message effectively in a few minutes. Each group would be paid between Rs 4,000 and Rs 4,500 for each performance. Therefore, it would provide a morale boost to them to perform their best,” Sinha said.

The society has decided to take maximum benefits of the performances to popularise the preventive aspects of the disease. Therefore, it has decided to distribute pamphlets containing information about the disease after every performance. The actors would also distribute condoms among the audience after their performances.

Though the groups would perform in all the districts, the focus would be more on “migrant places”. According to National AIDS Control Organisation, areas with a population of more than 10 per cent migrant labourers are called migrant places.

Naco has identified 12 districts of Bihar as migrant districts — Araria, Begusarai, Darbhanga, Lakhisarai, Gaya, Katihar, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Patna, Samastipur, Siwan and Vaishali.

Sinha said: “We would ask the groups to stress more on these districts. Every year, a large number of migrant labourers carry infection with them from their workplaces and spread them among their family members on their return to their native places. Truck drivers and labourers are our target groups because most of the new cases are reported in these groups every year.”

The society officials are confident that the cultural groups would attract the people to see their performances. “We would provide colourful attires to the performers to attract the audience. The performers would also be given musical instruments like dholak, harmonium and tabla that would add more glitz to their performances,” another official of the society said.